Abstract
This research aims to study the impact of implicit emotion on the use of theory of mind and enrich the research on emotions and the use of theory of mind, thus allowing adults to apply theory of mind more effectively in the context of social interaction. This study includes 120 college students as participants. A two (level of theory of mind: high vs. low) * three (implicit emotional state: implicit positive emotion, implicit neutral emotion, or implicit negative emotion) * two (private knowledge: endowed vs. unendowed) between-subjects three-factor design was employed. This study obtained the following results: (1) The main effect of different implicit emotional states on college students’ use of theory of mind is significant. College students with implicit positive emotions use theory of mind much less than those with implicit neutral and negative emotions. (2) In cases of implicit positive emotions, college students with a low level of theory of mind use theory of mind substantially less than students with a high level of theory of mind. In cases of implicit neutral and negative emotions, college students with the high and low theory of mind do not exhibit substantial differences in their use of theory of mind. This study concludes that different emotional states affect college students' use of theory of mind.
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MXT contributed to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, writing—review and editing. JPH contributed to conceptualization, investigation, writing—review & editing, and supervision. ZQZ contributed to conceptualization, investigation, writing—review & editing, supervision. YQC contributed to conceptualization, investigation, writing—review & editing, and resources.
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The Institutional Ethical Committee of the University Joint approved this study (approval number: IECUJ1021). Informed consent was obtained from all participants. This investigation complied with the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki governing human participants in research.
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Tao, MX., Hu, JP., Zhang, ZQ. et al. The effects of implicit emotion on the use of theory of mind among college students in China. Cogn Process 25, 267–279 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-023-01173-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-023-01173-x